By the mid- to late-1970s, pioneering video games, such as Pong and Asteroids were starting to replace pinball machines in arcades and taverns across America. But they still had good, classic pinball on Penn State's campus as well as at Playland, a nearby massive, late-night arcade on College Avenue in State College.

Playland, in the 1970s, had Foosball and air hockey and, of course, rows and rows of great pinball machines. And if it were a Friday or Saturday night at Penn State and you didn't have a party to go to, you'd bound through campus to downtown and the magic of Playland.

Playland had plenty of regulars and plenty of characters, including an old guy named Jack who managed the place during the night. He was a big, burly, intimidating guy and he would do little more than just sit behind the counter and read the paper or a magazine -- except, for a couple of times a night, when he would rise from behind the counter and shout across the room in a deep, booming voice: "Don't slam the glass!"

And some poor freshman would look over in embarrassment and apologize. And he would never slam the glass top of a pinball machine again.

Pinball: Places To Play

Looking for a place to play old-fashioned pinball? Good luck. The traditional electro-mechanical machines baby boomers grew up on have all but disappeared from gaming arcades. Only one company in the world, Stern Pinball Inc., outside Chicago, still makes the games. There are still some places...